Unit is buried, probably came from a school, he is asking $500. Is it fair. I believe our shop has a 1" copper line feeding to the bldg.

I have no exp. smithing, just sort of looking at equipment options.

gary


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Gary, Take a look here for some more cost effective alternatives to a gas forge. http://www.zoellerforge.com./ He has kits you can buy or build the burners yourself cheaper than that Johonson unit.

for that kind of money you can find more suited way less complicated ... forges

the 121 is out of my system. the brick needs to be rebuilt and that is too much $$.

I have the 27cfm Gast blower above so i might just build a gas forge.

I've rebuilt them using standard fire bricks and a masonry saw. And a little joint butter.

27 c.f.m. isn't a lot, but at least it's rated for some back pressure. You could probably run a decent little gas forge on that.

I've rebuilt them using standard fire bricks and a masonry saw. And a little joint butter.

I do have some standard brick lying around. Maybe I will take that approach. thanks to all.

gary

Standard fire brick forges are usually gas hogs with long warm up and cool down times.

The large Johnson's I have seen are more industrial forges and not a good choice for someone starting out.

I skipped the middle man and bought a Johnson heat treat forge/furnace (Pedestal model) at a school auction in Columbus OH for US$40.

Standard fire brick forges are usually gas hogs with long warm up and cool down times.

The large Johnson's I have seen are more industrial forges and not a good choice for someone starting out.

I skipped the middle man and bought a Johnson heat treat forge/furnace (Pedestal model) at a school auction in Columbus OH for US$40.

Sounds like the same model I am looking at. How would you evaluate it for someone starting out? Did you need to redo the brick or coat it?

The Johnson is a huge waste of gas at today's prices. I count my usage of propane in gallons per hour, literaly. I would either build a forge or buy an efficient one and forget the Johnson.

If you were doing production and needed a lot of irons in the fire, it would be a different story.

For a propane forge, you do'nt need a blower.

Way overkill for a beginner and not well sized for what folks are generally making. I didn't have to change out anything but have not used it since I moved out here as no gas! I use my propane forges I built at SOFA (in Ohio!) gas forge workshops *cheap*.

For a propane forge, you do'nt need a blower.

True, but a lot of folks prefer blown burners -- and they have some real advantages. Not least being that they're dead simple to build. And it appears he already has a blower, albeit a fairly small one.

A DIY blown forge is still a lot cheaper than that Johnson and more fuel efficient. Unless you have more money than you know what to do with build your own propane fired forge. With a blown burner he can melt bronze, brass or rock if he wants to. If he wants to use natural gas he can go with a pressure booster system http://www.gas-tec.com/

Edited October 29, 200916 yr by Bentiron1946

I built my blown forge out of an 18" piece of 8" square tube. I used an old microwave blower on it and it has more than enough air. Probably less than 20 cfm's. I used a draft induction blower on it first and ended up choking the air down because it was too much. Had to run higher gas pressure to run it. Now it will run on less than 10psi and weld. I believe you can get your forge to run on less pressure than that. I also have a forge with venturi burners and can weld with it also and it will run on 5lbs. pressure or less.

Fred

Edited October 29, 200916 yr by FredW

I don't even know if I want to B a blacksmith. Are there smithing groupies at hammer-ins?
Sure would be nice to have a pretty young umbrella girl hand me hammers. Maybe someone about 35 yrs younger than myself.

How far over the hill are you? Now as to pretty girls if you want them to hand you hammers forget it most of the girls at the hammer-ins I have been to are doing the hammering.

The Johnson is a huge waste of gas at today's prices. I count my usage of propane in gallons per hour, literaly. I would either build a forge or buy an efficient one and forget the Johnson.

If you were doing production and needed a lot of irons in the fire, it would be a different story.

For a propane forge, you do'nt need a blower.

The compartment is not that big in comparison to propane forges. It uses 90,000 btu's to heat to 2300 deg in 50 minutes, which seems like a long time.

would you consider that to be heavy gas usuage?

I could add a bad door to increase the usefulness. I wouldn't pay $500.